Electrical circuit board terminal springclip

ABSTRACT

An electrical terminal for use with a circuit board. The terminal comprises a conductive rivet having a head and a shaft, the shaft being adapted to be disposed through a circuit board aperture, and a spring means disposed around at least a portion of said rivet.

United States Patent 1191 Jambor [11] 3,848,947 .1451 Nov. 19, 1974ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT BOARD TERMINAL SPRINGCLIP [75] Inventor: Dorothy E.Jambor, Milwaukee,

Wis.

[73] Assignee: Dot Co Incorporated, Glendale, Wis.

[22] Filed: June 16, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 251,933

[52] US. Cl. 339/17 R, 339/125 R, 339/254 R [51] Int. Cl. u. H05k H04[58] Field of Search 339/17, 18, 126, 128, 253,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 845,268 2/1907 Schade, J1.339/260 2,040,665 5/1936 McKeige 339/260 2,701,871 2/1955 Rauch 339/203X 2,761,115 8/1956 Visconti 339/255 B 2,911,615 11/1959 Popejoy et a].339/254 M x 3,104,926 9/1963 Scoville 339/254 M x 3,441,899 4/1969 061d339/126 RS 3,699,495 10 1972 Raynor 339/17 c FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 957,085 8/1948 France 339/248 '5 1,017,239 9/1952 France339/254 R 400,025 11/1942 Italy 339/254 R 1,081,200 6/1954 France339/254 R Primary Examiner-R0y D. Frazier Assistant Examiner-Terrell P.Lewis [57] ABSTRACT An electrical terminal for use with a circuit board.The terminal comprises a conductive rivet having a head and a shaft, theshaft being adapted to be disposed through a circuit board aperture, anda spring means disposed around at least a portion of said rivet.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT BOARD TERMINALSPRINGCLIP BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates tothe electrical terminal art, and particularly to terminal structuremounted on a circuit board for removably securing one or more componentconductor leads.

Various terminals have previously been suggested in this art, many ofwhich retain component leads by means of solder or other similarfastening means. Such terminals are not practical in certainenvironments, as for example, where it is desired to repeatedly add orreplace component leads while performing experimental work. Further,such terminals do not afford protection against possible damage to thecomponent resulting from the excessive heat required to liquify thesolder alloy to make the connection.

Consequently, solderless connections have been developed and have takensuch forms as clips, crimps, spring fingers that grip the wire as it isinserted into a socket, and coil spring terminals which are designed toreceive conductor leads between the confined convolutions of the coilspring. These terminals perform their intended functions satisfactorilybut again they have limitations which may be undesirable. For example,in using such terminals the component leads after often subjected tosuch high stress the damage occurs to the leads which could preventrepeated use of the component. In those terminals where the force is notso great, there is the problem of lead retention by the terminal and thelikelihood of producing undesirable resistive effects.

The present invention recognizes the various difficulties of priorsolderless terminals and it is an object of the present invention toprovide an improved solderless terminal which permits repeated fast andreliable electrical connections including a substantially lower contactresistance than the prior art terminals.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improvedsolderless terminal which may be readily added to or removed fromcircuit boards and readily reused.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improvedsolderless terminal which is relatively inexpensive and which is morereliable in operation than the previously suggested terminals.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from a study of the attached drawings and from a reading of thefollowing description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of the terminalshown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the terminal connector of a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the terminal shown in FIG. 2 without theattachment thereto of the coil spring.

FIG. 4 is a view of a second embodiment of the invention disclosedherein.

ductive material, and has an end 12 which is straight and extendsnormally to the longitudinal axis of the helical configuration (See FIG.1). The rivet 1 is machined to provide a hole 6 extending completelythrough and centered in the head and shank, and a bore 5 extendingthrough the end of the shank farthest from the head, and substantiallynormal to the axis of hole 6. A pair of notches, 13 and 14, are formedin the shank proximate the rivet head, and a slot 18 is formed to extendthrough the rivet shank also proximate the rivet head.

In use, the rivet is inserted shank first into a hole in a printedcircuit board, the rivet head being positioned on or adjacent theunderside of the board as shown in FIG. 3. The spring 4 is thenpositioned on and affixed to the rivet shank extending from the boardsurface opposite the side of the board where the head is positioned sothat the rivet shank is surrounded by the coils of the spring. Thestraight end 12 of spring 4 is positioned in slot 18 and its free end isbent to engage notch 14 (FIG. 2), thereby locking the spring to therivet and the rivet to the board.

. A second embodiment of the invention is disclosed in FIG. 4 of thedrawings. Utilizing a slightly modified rivet, the coil spring is firstpositioned on and fastened to the rivet shank, one end of the springpositioned in notch 13 adjacent the rivet head. The shank is theninserted from the underside of the board through the board hole. In thisembodiment, the shank has been further provided with a groove 15. Asshown in FIG. 4 when the rivet is properly positioned in the hole,groove 15 is presented at the upper side of the board. By using a tool,such as a tweezers, or by using ones own fingers, the grooved shank isgrasped and pulled upwardly against the spring action of the coil springthereby moving hole 5 into useful position so that a component lead wirecan be inserted therein. Additionally groove 15 can be used for a directconnection of wires including a solder connection. The clamping of thewire in hole 5 of the rivet shank provides sufficient means for holdingthe rivet and coil assembly in a state of attachment to the circuitboard.

A third embodiment of the present invention is disclosed in FIG. 5.Grommet 2A replaces coil spring 2 and the grommet completely enclosesthat portion of the rivet located at either the bottom or the top ofboard 3. A groove 7 is located on the rivet shank between the head andgroove 15, and a small split ring spring 11 with a bent segment 10 isdisposed within groove 7. The grommet serves the purpose of electricallyinsulating the rivet where it is attached to the board. The grommet maybe attached to the board with adhesive, and this fixing of position ofthe grommet allows its natural spring action to assist in accepting andholding a wire or component lead after compression (to expose hole 5),and release, of the grommet. The

flange 16 creates a retention means, and hole 8 allows either servicingof hole 6, or the complete removal of rivet 1.

' In any of the embodiments hole 6 has the additional purpose ofproviding means for connection to the terminal by acceptance ofconnectors of a male type, such as a banana plug, component lead, etc. I

It is understood that various embodiments of the invention, other thanthose illustrated, may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Hence itis desired that the invention not be limited to the exact constructionand operation shown and described herein and that all What is claimed asnew is as follows:

1. An electrical terminal comprising:

a. a conductive rivet including a shaft and a head;

b. a slot in said shaft proximate the head;

c. a bore extending through the end of the shaft opposite the head andhaving an axis perpendicular to the axis of said shaft;

d. a coil spring disposed about said shaft and having the end thereofnearest the head attached in said slot.

2. An electrical terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coil springextends along said shaft between said slot and the end of the shaftopposite the head.

3. An electrical terminal in combination with a cira 4 cuit boardcomprising;

a. a rivet including a shaft and a head;

b. a bore extending through, and having an axis perpendicular to, saidshaft axis;

c. said shaft being disposed in and extending through an aperture insaid circuit board;

d. spring means disposed about at least a portion of said rivet andattached thereto;

e. said rivet being biased against the action of the spring means toprovide sliding movement of a portion of said shaft into and out of saidaperture.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 3 wherein said portion of saidshaft includes said bore.

5. The combination as claimed in claim 3 wherein said spring meanscomprises a resilient grommet.

6. The combination as claimed in claim 5 wherein the grommet ispositioned on that side of the circuit board proximate the rivet head.

1. An electrical terminal comprising: a. a conductive rivet including ashaft and a head; b. a slot in said shaft proximate the head; c. a boreextending througH the end of the shaft opposite the head and having anaxis perpendicular to the axis of said shaft; d. a coil spring disposedabout said shaft and having the end thereof nearest the head attached insaid slot.
 2. An electrical terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein thecoil spring extends along said shaft between said slot and the end ofthe shaft opposite the head.
 3. An electrical terminal in combinationwith a circuit board comprising; a. a rivet including a shaft and ahead; b. a bore extending through, and having an axis perpendicular to,said shaft axis; c. said shaft being disposed in and extending throughan aperture in said circuit board; d. spring means disposed about atleast a portion of said rivet and attached thereto; e. said rivet beingbiased against the action of the spring means to provide slidingmovement of a portion of said shaft into and out of said aperture. 4.The combination as claimed in claim 3 wherein said portion of said shaftincludes said bore.
 5. The combination as claimed in claim 3 whereinsaid spring means comprises a resilient grommet.
 6. The combination asclaimed in claim 5 wherein the grommet is positioned on that side of thecircuit board proximate the rivet head.